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Radioactive watch is really radioactive …but safe.

Sam Says: I was experimenting with hexagon based numbers that are derived from the classic 7-segment-digits everybody knows. There were many ways to do it and one of them strongly resembled the radioactive sign. I played around with the time display and saw, displaying all four numbers next to each other doesn’t look good and would take the iconic expression away from them. So I decided to use a phased display like the Denshoku, displaying one number at a time. That way, each number comes into it’s own.

On a separate consideration, I thought about how to properly implement tritium gas tubes into a watch concept. Those are already popular in watch design, giving certain details a low-light-visibility. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen which sends out beta-rays. Encased with a phosphorescent illuminant in a non-hydrogen-permeable borosilicate tube, tritium becomes a safe “always on” light source. Well not really always on. Tritium has a half-life of 12 years. The gas tubes can easily be replaced.

At the press of a button, the phased display starts showing the four digits of the time, then a separator symbol (the radioactive sign) followed by the four digits of the date. It’s like causing a chain reaction… Automatic pulsing animations let the watch look like an autonomic (and atomic) device.

I’m playing with the radioactivity theme here… The tritium is really harmless and one cannot ignore, the radioactive sign has a striking appearance. Combining both elements into one watch is a cool thing I think and definitely a communication starter.

They are seen but don’t stand out in a special way almng daytime. But that’s ok, it’s icon time then. The cool thing is the night time, you take the watch off, place it on your little night table and it stays active while you doze off slowly 😉

I previous submitted a drawing of a design based on a Radioactive Symbol which I called: Isotope. However this this concept was not published & I was unsure of whether to resubmit my Isotope Design because, of the recent Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami & Nuclear power plant crisis. For Fear of my design would insult the Japanese People. So Well done for Getting this published.

Oh that’s tough Andrew.
Shortly after the incident in Fukushima, an alternative design of the Active Reactor watch got posted. The concept was by a japanese. I think Tokyoflash didn’t actively deny your concept. There have been some changes in the past, maybe the design got lost. I would suggest to resubmit it. I did it with some of my concepts too. Good luck!

This Watch requires a training for its reading, to memorize the symbols corresponding to numbers.
Otherwise the idea is brilliant simplment, as Habit.
With all its magnificent projects, Sam could open a store all by himself!
5 * / Yes.

Yeah, with these type of watches, even if you understand the code, it still takes a while to be able to read the time quickly. With my Hanko watch, I still get a bit bamboozled. Curious. (Not a criticism, just an observation.)

@ Fir: Thanks Master Fir!
@ Laszlo: Thanks alot Laszlo, very nice comment 😀
@ Patrick: It’s cool you like it! Oh yes please use the number overview for the training. You can see, every segment is taken from the classical numbers. Hm, I should do something with my concepts indeed… Merci Patrick!
@ Matt: Yeah I thought the recognition would be rather intuitive – good that it works for you!

Oh it’s affordable. There are watches that cost 100$ and they use 15 little tritium tube markers (12 for the hours, 3 for the hands). Keychains with bigger vials are around 25 bucks, depending on the size. Cool stuff 🙂

Thanks for the input Taco!! I see your point. But I think, this would look closer to an 8. Actually I’m using such an 8 in another concept, while the 1 of the same concept looks like the one from Beta Decay. I must admit, the 8 here does not look like an 8 but all numbers follow one rule and that’s the key to learning them.

Cool, that you do watch hopping and share your thoughts with the blog 🙂

Fair enough Makko 😀 I can see that the time telling method is a bit uncomfortable. In order to keep the sign and numbers clean, I split time into phases… Always pro and contra 🙂 Thank you for the comment Makko!